


Moment of Beauty

by WordNerd04



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, ShidgeValentinesExchange2018, based on this show called Superstore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 12:45:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13547613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordNerd04/pseuds/WordNerd04
Summary: AU. Pidge had great dreams. Amazing dreams. Dreams that were often called just that, dreams. They weren't realistic. They were too big, too impossible too unattainable. Despite that, Pidge wanted to achieve them. And she was going to. Eventually.Her dream wasn't to work at a retail shop though. And neither was it to fall in love with her new coworker.





	Moment of Beauty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonlitwaterwriting](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=moonlitwaterwriting).



> This is my gift for @moonlitwaterwriting for Shidge Valentine exchange! I hope you like it. I loved this show called Supertore and so this happened XD enjoy!

Pidge had great dreams. Amazing dreams. Dreams that were often called just that, dreams. They weren't realistic. They were too big, too impossible too unattainable. Despite that, Pidge wanted to achieve them. And she was going to. Eventually.    
  
Her dream wasn't to work at a retail shop though.   
  
Altea was more or less a rushed decision. It had poor healthcare for the workers, minimum wage, and awful customers. But Altea hired her and Pidge needed the money. She started working there when she was 17 and now... now she is 26 and is still working here. Definitely not what she expected out of life. Definitely not where she expected working for almost a decade. But life sometimes it’s like that.    
  
Pidge thought all of this as she put the blue vest, a name tag, and sat down in the break room for the daily break down of the day.    
  
"Today we have a new person joining our team!" Allura, her boss, mentioned excitedly. Sometimes Allura was way too positive for Pidge's like. Most of the time, what Allura said went unheard for Pidge. That's not to say that Pidge didn't like Allura, because that was far from the truth. Allura was there when she was a struggling teenager and Allura was a great person. (If not a bit  _ too _ happy about working at this place.)   
  
"Morning," the new guy said, standing up and waving his arm. Pidge looked at him from the corner of her eye. He was tall. Taller than her and probably the rest of the people in the room, (except Allura, she was wearing high heels like always.) He seemed to have a prosthetic arm, though Pidge only lingered a little on this fact. He seemed to be of Japanese roots (?). This guy didn't strike Pidge as someone who would work at this store, he seemed too hipster and too. ... Not-broke to work here. But she didn’t care enough to give it a second thought.   
  
"Anyway," Allura pointed to Pidge, “you’ll be working along with Shiro. Keith, Lance, you guys are going to help Coran with some deliveries. Hunk, and the rest, usual spots." They all nodded and headed off to their assigned spots. Coran was the assistant of Allura, and he was overall a nice guy, a weird accent always in his voice. The rest of her coworkers were.... coworkers that she came to tolerate. There were only a couple that if they died, Pidge would care…. Sort of.    
  
Pidge sighed and stood up, making herself a cup of coffee before realizing the new guy was standing awkwardly beside her.   
  
"Hey, I'm Shiro." Pidge nodded but only took a gulp out of her drink, offering no reply.   
  
"And you are," Shiro seemed to read her name tag, "Jenn?" His incredulous look made her roll her eyes.    
  
"I don't feel comfortable giving strangers my name," she stated as she set her cup of coffee down. Pidge did not offer her real name as she fixed her glasses and walked around him.   
  
"Here follow me."   
  
Shiro seemed to insist walking alongside her, even though Pidge was sure that he had no idea where they were going. Somewhere along the way, she got one checking list (inventory) and a pricing gun.    
  
"So, is it your first day too?" Shiro asked. Pidge stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. She heard someone chuckle, and much to her dismay, Lance was setting a display in the aisle next to where she was. Of course Lance was going to witness this. Then again, it didn’t surprise Pidge.    
  
"Yeah, how old are you?" Lance asked from the aisle, his teasing tone receiving a grimace from Pidge.  Shiro watched the exchange with a confused face.   
  
"You do look a bit younger than the people working her," Shiro offered.    
  
Pidge hated when they commented on her age. Just because she was smaller than average did not mean she was child. Plus he was the new guy, what could possibly made him think he knew more than her? Still, Pidge didn’t show any of her frustration.   
  
"So I've been told. But for future reference," she handed the price gun to Shiro with a bitter smile, "don't comment on your manager's age."    
  
She walked off, leaving him alone. She had inventory to check and well... Shiro seemed capable of handling himself.

 

* * *

 

Shiro was left with his jaw opened and regret filling every fiber of his being. He truly did not meant to offend her... whatever her name was. (Not-Jenn).    
  
"Huh, you just broke rule number one of this job." The guy beside him mentioned. He was tall and thin, with brown skin.   
  
"Keep the floor manager on her good side," Shiro only groaned.   
  
"My name's Lance, welcome to Altea's!"    
  
"Shiro, and happy to be here."   
  
"No need to lie. I bet no one voluntarily chose to be working at this store." Shiro chuckled at Lance's comment. The guy seemed friendly and quite talkative, and seeing as how he talked with Pidge, maybe they were friends.   
  
"So, what's her deal?"   
  
"Don't worry. She's a pretty good person when you get past all her layers of sarcasm and bitterness. She despises mornings... and unlike you, she's been working here for quite a while." Shiro nodded. Lance only continued setting up the display, carefully balancing products and once in a while taking some out and replacing them.   
  
"So what about you pretty boy? What's someone like you doing here?"

 

* * *

 

For a pretty boy, Shiro was sure that that was probably his only remarkable quality. (70% sure).   
  
There wasn't really a nice way of saying, "I dropped out of school and drove away and I found this store that was hiring and here I am".   
  
Because even he had to admit to himself that this whole thing was a process of many, many decisions made in the spur of the movement. And not all of the decisions should have been made within 5 seconds. But here he was, wearing a blue vest with his name tag and a price gun on his hand. Lance had stopped talking in change of ranting about this other boy, who had a ‘mullet’ and was ‘hotheaded’. Shiro was sure that Lance was exaggerating, because mullets weren’t seen anymore and no one would be dumb enough to get one.    
  
"So what should I do?"    
  
Lance explained he had to discount some electronics and taught him how to access the codes and what buttons to click and everything. Shiro tried to memorize it as best as he could.   
  
He walked over to the electronics area and began to reprice the products. It was almost entrancing. Computer. Beep. Printer. Beep. Lap top. Beep. Tablet. Beep.   
  
"Sir, I can tell you that we do not sell that."   
  
"Can you check in the back?"   
  
"That product is one that we haven't sold since 2 years ago,  _ sir _ ." Shiro turned his attention to the pair of people. One of them had a name tag reading 'Keith.'    
  
"But I bought it a month ago!"    
  
Shiro could hear Keith almost growl at this customer. He couldn't blame him, this guy was being unbelievable. Keith was a worker here so chances were that he knew which products the store offered and which ones were not anymore.   
  
"Hey Keith!" Shiro shouted, approaching the guy who was now looking at him with wide eyes.   
  
"We need you in the kitchen department," Shiro stated, trying to sound as urgent as possible. Shiro wasn’t even sure if there was in fact a kitchen department. Regardless, Keith flashed him a smile and turned back to the costumer.   
  
"I have to attend this. You can talk to our manager if you so wish." Keith then strolled with Shiro away from the costumer.   
  
"Thank you." Shiro nodded.   
  
"I'm Keith."   
  
"Shiro." Keith smirked.   
  
"Are you the new guy who pissed off our boss?" Keith asked with amusement in his voice, Shiro almost smiled guilty.   
  
"Rumors spread fast around here, huh?"   
  
"You wouldn't believe it."    
  
Keith taught Shiro a couple of things about his job. He taught him how to restock, how to properly re-price merchandise, how to handle customers and also introduced him with the person who handled the announcement over the speakers.   
  
"Hello customers! This is Altea and we are going to be closing in 5 minutes. Take your time but also not because I really want to go home and watch this new season-" the guy stopped using the microphone and smiled once he saw Keith.   
  
"Hey Keith! Shiro, nice to see you've been doing well! I'm Hunk!"    
  
"Nice to meet you," Shiro replied.     
  
Overall, all of these people seemed to be sort of friends with Pidge. They all talked highly of her, and quite fondly. Hunk was an engineer who was on an internship right now and was trying to pay off his college debt. Keith was another drop out student, but he was saving up to open up his own mechanic shop. Lance had finished university, but had different jobs to help with his cousin's college.   
  
When the store officially closed, Shiro was glad he made it through his first day. However, cleaning up was a thing that had to happen and would come to be his least favorite part of the job. Everyone at this point seemed too tired from handling customers, which Shiro could not blame them for. 

  
It got worse when he was assigned the same section as Not-Jenn.    
  
They were both quietly mopping, and once in a while the girl would rearrange some products before going back and setting them in a cart. She seemed okay with the silence surrounding them, Shiro was not.    
  
"I'm sorry." The girl looked up.   
  
"You know, for assuming stuff." Shiro offered. After all, he was going to work here for a while so might as well start off with the right foot. He wouldn’t like to be an enemy of the manager’s for all of the time he works here. The girl offered him a small sincere smile and shook her head.   
  
"No worries."    
  
"So how was your day?"    
  
There was a pause before she cleared her throat.   
  
"Nothing ever changes, you know? Today you mentioned my age, but tomorrow? Tomorrow someone else is going to do it. Today is going to be the same as tomorrow, and the next day. You are new here, but in a while you'll see that each day is going to be exactly the _ same _ ,” her tone was a bit melancholic, but the small smile plastered in her face said that this was a thing that  _ happened  _ more frequently than not _. _ She was used to it. 

“It gets boring," she finished.     
  
Shiro widened his eyes and tried to think of what to say.    
  
"Well that's why you have to find a moment of beauty," Pidge snorted and pushed her glasses up. Shiro thought that it was good advice, and while Not-Jenn didn't get it, at least it made her laugh.    
  
They were about done cleaning up when Pidge dropped a box. She picked up and chuckled.   
  
"Glow in the dark stars. I wanted to cover my whole room with these when I was little. In a couple of weeks they are going to be in clearance, you know? Then I put up the Halloween stuff, then Christmas, then valentines, and then I’m back to stocking these little stars again," she looked up, “sometimes it’s hard finding a moment of beauty.” And with that, she placed them back on the stack of boxes.    
  
Shiro was left staring at the boxes, an idea forming in his head.

* * *

 

Another 30 minutes later, Allura officially dismissed them all and wished them a good night. Pidge went to her locker and took off her work vest, stuffing it inside. She grabbed her green jacket that was folded inside, it now smelled like dust and sweat. Ugh, locker smell. It wasn’t anything new, and Pidge hated that she was now used to it.   
  
She took off her fake name tag and placed it inside before closing her compartment. Pidge let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes before beginning to march out of the break room. She was one of the last ones there. ... Though Shiro should still be around somewhere, Pidge hadn't seen him after their short chat.   
  
As she began to head for the exits, the lights went out. She groaned. She just wanted to get out of here.   
  
"What the-" She looked up and gasped.   
  
There in the ceiling were glow in the dark stars, hundreds of them. She looked around, only to be met by more. A smile made its way to her face.    
  
The little stars were glowing a soft green, one that Pidge remembered longing for as a kid. It made her heart beat faster, it gave her something like happiness.    
  
"What do you think?" She turned around and crossed her arms. Shiro was standing there, looking proud of himself.    
  
"It's... something."   
  
"A moment of beauty," he whispered. Pidge chuckled.   
  
"A moment of beauty."    
  
Coran disrupted the moment by turning the lights back on, rambling on speaker about how he didn't know how the lights went out but everything was fine now!    
  
Pidge thanked Shiro, (because it was truly beautiful and she really did appreciated his attempt to not make today as every other day in her days at this store.... It was thoughtful and it worked. In her 9 years working here no one had ever done that. Not for her.)   
  
Just before she exited, she shouted, "Katie. My name is Katie. But my friends call me Pidge."    
  
Shiro's smile made her heart flutter for some unknown reason. Probably the same reason as those twinkling stars in the ceiling of Altea.

* * *

 

Shiro lived in an apartment by himself. With the paycheck from the store he had enough to cover his basic needs and well, he always had a minimalistic style. He usually drove to work with a cup of coffee on his hands. He did like his work... sure, customers weren't the best, and sometimes he had to clean vomit, and sometimes there was too much work with too little pay... but he liked his coworkers for the most part.   
  
Shiro got to know the people around the store very well as the month went by.    
  
Allura was the boss of the store, and along with Coran, they both made sure they all had jobs and the store was well taken care of. Allura was smart, very kind, and sometimes scary.     
  
Coran was her uncle, (or at least those were the rumors, because there certainly wasn't any family resemblance), he was very energetic and positive. He saw the best in people. He and Lance got along great, and while the rest of the team also respected Coran, it seemed that Coran had a soft spot for Pidge, (along with Allura, but that was a given.)   
  
Despite the rough start with Pidge, they both got along very well afterwards.    
  
"Seriously Shiro? That tower is not going to stand," she mentioned, one of her hands covering the grin she had.   
  
"It will, you'll see," Shiro said, finishing stacking all of the packs of toilet paper into a tall tower. Was this professional? Not really, but if anyone asked he'd answer that it was to promote the paper.   
  
Pidge shook her head, and Shiro found himself smiling at her.   
  
"Hold on," Pidge rushed towards him and rearranged the base of the structure, "That might make it hold out longer."   
  
"Pidge? Shiro?" They both turned to see the voice that was calling them. Allura was standing with her arms crossed and a curious glint on her eye.   
  
"What's... this?" She asked, one of her hands pointing at their building of paper. Pidge cleared her throat.   
  
"We thought that if we arranged it like so it would get the customers attention." Shiro only offered a nod. Allura smiled and clasped her hands.   
  
"Wonderful! You two make a great team!" She then went off to assist a customer, not asking any more questions. Pidge and Shiro shared a glance before chuckling.   


* * *

  
  
"So, hypothetically, would you be able to ask out your coworker?" Shiro asked. He was restocking with Lance.    
  
"Yeah. I think you gotta fill out some paperwork but yeah."   
  
"Even if they are the manager?" Lance stopped packing and looked at him, one of his eyebrows raised.   
  
"Yeah. Hypothetically, you would be able to date someone like, oh I don't know, Allura."    
  
Okay, that made sense. If Shiro would date someone like Allura, then Pidge would be no problem. Lance was narrowing his eyes at him.   
  
"She's seeing someone though."    
  
"Oh, Pidge?"  Suddenly Lance burst out laughing.   
  
"What no! Allura but hey, so you and Pidge? That's-"   
  
"No, me and Pidge? That's- no, she's probably married or something." Lance chuckled and went back to restocking, watching Shiro in the corner of his eye.   
  
"Whatever you say."   
  


* * *

  
Turns out, sometimes it isn't enough spending 10 hours with someone at work. Lance had suggested they get drinks, and well.... everyone decided to go. Even Pidge.    
  
(Pidge wasn't going because Shiro was going and maybe it'd be nice to see how he is outside of work.)   
  
However, one person got sick and Pidge was left covering their shift because she wouldn't turn down a chance to make extra money.    
  
It was a very short shift though. So yeah, maybe Pidge would miss out on a night out with drinks but the money she would win would make up for it. Allura said there wasn't a lot of work, just cleaning up and taking off some discount signs.    
  
When Pidge finished, she was tired and hungry and really really wished she had gone to get a drink.   
  
Maybe she'd get a beer when she got to her apartment.... though she also wanted to go to sleep.

  
She zipped up her jacket and waved a goodbye to Allura and Coran and then made her way to the exit.     
  
She saw someone sitting on the hood of her car, and her first thought was "great, I'm dead." But then she caught a glimpse of a prosthetic arm and she let out a breath. It was Shiro. She began to walk a bit faster, her hands fidgeting inside her pockets. What was Shiro doing here? Didn't he went with the rest? Plus, Pidge was sure she never mentioned which car was hers.   
  
"Lance told me this was your car," Shiro said once she was close enough. Pidge scoffed and sat next to him. It was cold outside, but being by his side seemed better than driving home to be by herself.    
  
"Of course he did. But my question was more along the lines of what are you doing here?" Her tone was curious and teasing. Shiro chuckled and picked up something that was by the floor.   
  
"Thought you could use a drink."    
  
Pidge did. She took one of the bottles he was offering and took a gulp. She let out a sigh. Shiro was smiling beside her, taking a drink from his own. His eyes were looking at the sky, darting to see every constellation.     
  
Of course he was, Pidge didn't expect anything else from him.   
  
"Katie. How come no one calls you that?" Shiro asked after a moment. Pidge swallowed the gulp she had and looked at him.   
  
"It felt too personal at first. So I went by Pidge. And that stuck around."    
  
Pidge placed down her bottle and shoved her hands in her pocket. Shiro was still holding on to the drink, savoring each sip he took. Pidge thought that this was ridiculous, after all, beer wasn't a really tasteful drink. Then again, she was having some herself.    
  
"I'm 26," she began, looking at Shiro and then at the sky, hoping to find whatever magic Shiro was seeing. "I started working here when I was 17."   
  
Shiro shifted his position so he was looking at her.   
  
"Why?"    
  
"My dad had a very prestigious job. My mom was a great teacher, but after a while she quit so she could support me and my brother as we grew up. You know, be there while my dad worked. Pretty patriarchal but-" She chuckled to herself before continuing,"- so my dad went on a mission for his job. He died there."   
  
"I'm so sorry-" Pidge raised her hand, stopping him from continuing to apologize. Truly, Pidge didn't want any apologies. She was just telling a story.    
  
"That left me and my brother. My mom was.... let's say she wasn't in the place to work again. My brother had started his fourth year of college at the time so I got a job to help him pay for it."    
  
She did a motioned towards the store.   
  
"Then he graduated, but both he and my mom needed a doctor. You know, a therapist or something. So I thought, let's keep working here." Pidge stopped for a second. “You know, it made sense, I got money and could help them both. That was enough at the time. Putting off college seemed like an obvious course of action.”   
  
At one point Shiro had scooted closer. Pidge paid no mind.   
  
"And after that, it was one thing or another. I wanted to go to college, but my family needed me."   
  
"What's stopping you now?" Pidge glanced up at him and smiled.   
  
"College is expensive and I can barely afford living by myself. So that's one thing," she said with a bitter chuckle.    
  
"If you need anything-"   
  
"I'm not asking for help. I can handle that myself."    
  
Shiro had no doubt she could. This girl had helped her family through hell. She was so selfless, and Shiro had no idea that a person could be like her. She seemed rather distant and tough, but now Shiro knew part of what shaped her to be like that. Pidge was truly an admirable woman.    
  
"Thanks for telling me," Shiro stated. Pidge had trusted him enough to tell her this private part about herself.    
  
She smiled, satisfied with his response.   
  
"Do you want me to drive you home?"    
  
The obvious answer was no. Because Shiro had his car parked about two rows away from hers, and he was able to get there himself. And he shouldn't make her waste gas, or you know, her time.    
  
"Sure. Thanks."    
  
Pidge only nodded and opened up the door to the shotgun seat, getting out some pamphlets and magazines and placing them on the backseat. Shiro noted they were all college catalogs. 

  
He sat and noticed that the car was very clean. Pidge started it and asked Shiro for the address.    
  
They drove in silence, but none of it was uncomfortable. Pidge hummed to some songs, and sometimes Shiro would sneak glances her way and look away before she could see him. It felt like high school.    
  
She parked on his driveway, and smiled at him. This smile was bigger than the rest and seemed... happy. Pidge was happy. Shiro wished she could stay happy, she deserved it.    
  
"Good night."

Shiro got out of the car and waved her goodbye. If he waited to get inside until she left then well, she didn’t need to know. 

* * *

 

“Lance I can’t believe you!” 

Shiro entered the break room to find Pidge jumping and Lance laughing in front of her. 

“Fuck you Lance.” 

Lance had apparently placed her coffee on a high shelf when she wasn’t paying attention and now the girl couldn’t reach it. It was funny, if not for the probability of her killing Lance once she got her coffee. 

Shiro snuck behind Pidge before grabbing her by the waist and lifting her high enough so she could reach her drink. Pidge let out a tiny squeak before seeing what Shiro was doing and grabbing her drink. Shiro put her back down, and Pidge flipped off Lance, who was covering his laughter with his hand.

“Thanks Shiro,” Pidge said, her cheeks a little redder than usual. Lance only grinned wider, only for his joy to disappear as Pidge took a sip from her drink and turned to Lance, narrowing her eyes.

“One of these days Keith will find out-“

“Find out what?” The trio turned around to see Keith with a cup of ramen. Pidge exchanged a mischievous grin with Lance before shrugging.

“Nothing… I have to go check something with Allura.” 

Pidge walked out with a smug look on her face. It took Shiro about 2 seconds before he followed her.

* * *

 

Hunk and Pidge had a nice, relaxed friendship. Hunk liked to gossip, more to Allura than to Pidge, but Pidge also loved how Hunk was very sympathetic and funny. 

“Wait, so you used Lance’s not-crush as blackmail?” 

“I thought Lance hated Keith?” Shiro asked. Hunk and Pidge exchanged a look before laughing.

“Shiro, Lance has this massive crush on Keith,” Hunk stated with a grin. Pidge nodded.

“Pretty sure Keith does too, but since Lance and him are always competing instead of making out-“ she trailed off as a customer approached them. She then went off to help said customer, leaving Shiro and Hunk behind. 

“So Lance and Keith?”

“Yup!”

Hunk and Shiro stayed quiet for a minute before Shiro asked something else.

“What about Pidge? Does she have a crush on anyone?” Hunk turned to look at him, his eyes scanning his face before dropping to an easy smile.

“Not that I know. Relationships weren’t her thing.”

“Weren’t?”

Hunk smirked.

“Weren’t. I don’t know about now.”

* * *

 

Pidge was scary when she was mad. 

Like,  _ she could probably fight the devil and win _ scary. Shiro realized this when the heater broke in the store and everyone was working in a 90 degree store. 

“ROLO! I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN UP THAT SPILL!” 

She was pacing on each aisle, making sure everything was working and nothing was melting. 

“LANCE!” 

Pidge was stomping around and directing everyone to take care of stuff. It was very unhelpful when customers went to her and pointed out the obvious, that it was very warm. 

Lotor was apparently one guy who handled both the loading thing from the trucks into the storage room, to the person who could fix the heating system. 

  
Lotor was also the person who was on the receiving end of Pidge's fury.

  
"Lotor! I told you to clean this up."   
  


"Zethrid was going to do it." Pidge growled and Shiro only watched both of them glare at each other. Shiro placed a hand on her shoulder.    
  


"Pidge," the girl only took a breath and then narrowed her eyes.   
  


"You better clean this up now. There are trucks in the back waiting to be unloaded." She turned around after receiving a nod from Lotor. Just as she was going to exit, Lotor called out,

  
"Hey Pidge, you should smile more!"    
  


Shiro could only watch hell unravel in front of him. 5 minutes later they all found themselves sitting around a table, Pidge and Lotor seating across with each other. Pidge was crossing her arms and had a scowl on her face. Lotor had a tired expression. Shiro was standing between them.   
  


"I don't understand why you are so offended. I just told you to smile, you got a nice smile," Lotor said, though the smug smile he was flashing conveyed the opposite sentiment.   
  


"I know I got a great smile! It lights up the room! But I will smile WHEN I DAMN WELL PLEASE!"    
  


"Okay okay. Remember, we are trying to de-escalate the situation. Lotor?"   
  


"Sorry. I forgot women were so sensitive. Or is it just you?" Shiro only cringed. Pidge slammed her hands on the table and stood up.   
  


"Sensitive?"    
  


"Yes, like an uptight teacher?"   
  


"More like I'm your superior in a job you used to have, you are fired!" Both Shiro and Lotor widened their eyes.

“Excuse me? You are firing me over nothing?” Lotor was now standing up, facing Pidge. Pidge was glaring at him, and though she barely reached his shoulder, she looked intimidating.   
  


"Hold on Pidge,  you can't fire anyone and Lotor, you should apologize. It is not nothing, you played into some gender roles and some power dynamics that-"

  
"God you are being a bigger bitch that Katie."    
  


Oh no.     
  


Pidge narrowed her eyes. Shiro clenched his fist, and then spoke.   
  


"Lotor, you are fired."

And with that, Lotor was left staring at two very angry workers.

* * *

Turns out, you can't just fire people, Pidge realized as soon as the temperature went down. Lotor didn’t find out that fact.  But Lotor did show up the next day with an apology card (probably Ezor made him do it, that was Pidge's bet) and well, he got his job back. Pidge wasn't going to tell him he was technically never fired. And neither was Shiro.

  
Shiro and Pidge were currently restocking some merchandise.   
  


"Shiro?!" Both of them looked up. There was a very tall mall walking towards them.

  
"Ulaz?" The man hugged Shiro,  and Pidge couldn't help but feel extremely tiny.    
  


"Shiro, what are you doing here boy? You didn't show up in my class anymore!" Shiro exchanged a glance with Pidge, who was intrigued by the conversation. Shiro nervously chuckled.    
  


"Yeah, I just... dropped out."   
  


"But you were an excellent student. One of the Garrison's finest. And now one of the Marmora's finest as well."    
  


"Yeah, Shiro what happened?" Pidge pipped in, a playful smirk on her face. Shiro only shook his head.   
  


"Who are you?"    
  


"Ah, she's Pidge.  She is my- uh- we are-"   
  


"I'm his boss," Pidge said, extending her hand and shaking it with Ulaz'.    
  


"So what did happen Shiro?"   
  


"Funny story actually. So I decided I didn't like school that much, so I just took my car and drove and drove, and then I saw a help wanted sign here and yeah."    
Both Pidge and Ulaz stared at him.   
  


"Is that it?" Ulaz asked. Shiro nodded.   
  


"Alright. Well I need to be on my way, but good luck with.... whatever you end up doing." Ulaz smiled and then walked away.    
  


Shiro turned to Pidge, who was back to restocking.    
  


"So, Garrison's finest, huh?"    
  


"Yeah...."   
  


"I always knew you were one of those boys." Shiro turned to her with a questioning look. Pidge shrugged.   
  


"You know, with an option to leave if you wanted. You certainly got the qualifications to land a good job."    
  


"I'm not gonna leave Pidge." 

 

"You can't guarantee me that."

 

"Well, no but." Pidge waved her hand.   
  


"It's alright. I don't expect you to settle for this job anyway." She smiled at him and then walked away. Shiro felt something tug at his heart. It was probably the fact that she was right. He could walk away and find a better job, one where he could get paid a bit more, and work with less customers. She couldn’t. 

But he wouldn't do that. He wouldn’t walk away from her.    
  


Shiro found her in the break room after everyone was leaving. She was washing her coffee cup and then trying to put her hair in a ponytail. It failed. She sighed before putting the hair tie back on her wrist.    
  


"I was studying aeronautical engineering." Pidge turned around.    
  


"God you scared me for a second," she approached him. He was leaning against a locker, his hands playing with the vest he had taken off.    
  


"So, space, huh?" Shiro hummed in agreement.   
  


"What happened?"    
  


"I was a pretty good student. Had good grades. Had... okay friends. But I wasn't good at being under pressure,’ he looked up at her and smiled, “if you want to go to space, you have to be good under pressure.” 

“I would imagine so.” 

“I wasn’t. I began to have panic attacks. It wasn’t a good place for my anxiety. So I decided to drop out. I didn't feel good there.” Pidge bumped her shoulder to his, making him look at the girl.

“That was a good thing to do. Taking care of yourself is important. And school is not everything, you know,” she met his eyes with the gentlest smile Shiro has ever seen on her, “so I’m proud of you.” 

Shiro was never proud of his decision. In fact, he always hid it because his decision mostly came with shame. But right now, he felt himself smile. Pidge was proud. Pidge thought  his decision was good and not dumb, like Shiro told himself. It made him think that maybe his decision was indeed the right one. (And maybe in the future, he would end up doing something with space. Something that made him feel good.)

* * *

 

“I dare you to sing using the phone Hunk uses to make the announcement,” Pidge said as she marked down the prices of aisle 6. 

“Sing?”  Pidge nodded, a smirk on her face.

“I won’t do that Pidge.”

“Oh alright. I guess you are a chicken then.”

“I’m not gonna give-in to peer pressure.”

“Chicken.”

“Not gonna work. I’m too old to give in-”

Pidge rolled her eyes and then searched up a picture of a chicken.

“Oh look, that’s you!” 

 

“ _ We are no strangers to love…. you know the rules, and so do I… _ ” Pidge covered her mouth with her hands, muffling her laughter. Shiro’s voice was echoing throughout the store. 

“Why is he doing this again?” Hunk asked, watching the man continue to awkwardly sing.

“I dared him.” Hunk exchanged a glance between Pidge and Shiro and smirked. 

“ _ Never gonna give you up, Never gonna let you down….Never gonna run around and desert you _ _   
_ _ Never gonna make you cry...Never gonna say goodbye…..Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you… _ ” PIdge burst out laughing and clapped as Shiro finished singing. 

“God that was amazing.” 

“I dare you to braid Allura’s hair.” Pidge widened her eyes.

“Wait, that was not the deal.”  Shiro’s eyes glinted with mischief.

“I mean, you don’t have to do it….chicken.” Pidge frowned. 

“Fine. But if you don’t see me in the next 5 hours, it’s your fault.”

 

Two hours later PIdge showed up with makeup on her face, her hair straightened out, brushed and shiny, and her nails done. There might have been some eye shadow in her face too. She was giving him a sharp glare, but there was a small smile peeking on the corner of her lips.

Shir felt his cheeks heat up.

“Happy?” Pidge asked, crossing her arms.

“I only asked Allura if I could do her hair, and she accepted and then decided we shall go to spa! It was nice overall, except for the fact that going to the spa is hella expensive.” 

“I’ll reimburse you,” Shiro offered with a smile. Pidge rolled her eyes,

“You better.” 

About 4 more dares for each, a weirded out client, a video taken by Lance, and an incident in the breakroom, Pidge went for one of the biggest dares.

“You think he’s gonna do it?” Lance asked Pidge, who was waiting in the break room. Pidge shrugged. 

“I don’t know. But he sure is taking his time.”

“I think you might have gone a bit too far.” 

“He could always back out.” 

“Uh huh.” 

Pidge crossed her arms. Just as she was about to respond to Lance, another person entered the break room.

“Katie!” Both Pidge and Lance turned around to find Matt standing in the doorway. Pidge grinned and then her grin fell.

“Oh god.” She exchanged a look with Lance.

“Go stop Shiro.”

“On it!” 

Just as Lance was going to walk out, (with Matt confusingly standing there,) Shiro came in… wearing nothing but an apron with the Altea logo displaying in front. 

Pidge widened her eyes and Lance stopped on his tracks, his cheeks flushed. Matt was staring at the guy and then darting his eyes towards Pidge for an explanation. (oh fuck fuck fuck, how was Pidge going to explain this?)

Lance let out a low whistle.

“You got a nice bod,” Lance commented, though Shiro paid no mind to it. He only looked at Pidge and then at Matt.

“You actually did it,” Pidge stated, and if she wanted to agree with Lance, she didn’t say it.

“Um, Katie? Who is this?” She snapped out and looked at Matt and then at Shiro, (trying to hard to avoid anything that wasn’t the apron… but god damn, Shiro was really toned.)

“um, this is Shiro. Shiro, this is Matt… my brother.” Shiro widened his eyes and glanced at Pidge. Fuck. 

“Oh! Hi, nice to meet you. Pidge has talked about you.”

“Nice to meet you too Shiro,” Matt replied with a smile.

“So… I supposed my sister dared you to do this?” 

“They’ve been doing this all day,” Lance butted in, now making himself a cup of coffee. Pidge groaned. Matt chuckled.

“Well, I’ll meet you at your apartment then, don’t wanna interrupt whatever weird stuff is happening here.” Matt hugged Pidge and then waved bye at Lance.

“Nice to meet you Shiro,” Shiro waved back. Matt walked around the guy, and from behind he gave a thumbs up to Pidge, who only buried her face in her hands. Shiro couldn’t have been more sure that his timing was awful. 

* * *

 

Pidge has had a lot of experiences in her job. There’s been fires that she put out, there’s been fires she needed to get away from because they almost burned the building down. There’s been the take over by rats… 3 (or was it 4?) of them ended up being Allura’s pets. There’s been that time where someone hacked into all of their system, only for Pidge to counterattack it. There’s been that time there was an earthquake and she just had to continue working. 

What hadn’t happened was a hurricane… or tornado. 

And what hadn’t happened was falling in love with a coworker.

Which Pidge was sure this was why she jinxed it. 

It started out as a normal day. She was in the breakroom with Shiro, and Lance and Keith were ranting about why fish weren’t wet, and Hunk was talking with Allura, and Coran was trying out new vest and new name tags. It was normal. Sweet, sweet routine.

Then they went out to their normal spots. This time Pidge was in charge of cleaning the changing rooms (and praying no one was doing anything in them).  Shiro was setting the clothes from the changing rooms back to their specified areas. 

Then a light flickered. 

Pidge paid it no mind.

Then another did. 

Pidge groaned because she was probably going to be the one who was going to have to go up and fix it. 

Then the lights went all out and the store was pitch black. 

“Pidge?” 

A blue light from Shiro’s phone shined in her direction. She stepped closer to him until they were standing side by side. They both walked to the pharmacy section that was close by, hoping they would bump into someone. They didn’t.

Then the speaker went on.

“Hi!” Allura’s voice chimed in-” I don’t want anyone to panic but we have a tornado alert-” from somewhere in the store she was sure that Lance was telling Keith he was right. (Because if Pidge recalls, Lance once told them about a tornado probably hitting in their area. She also remembers telling Lance that she would welcome death by a tornado rather than an angry customer.) 

“So, I want everyone to go away from the exit. Avoid all windows and all fragile material in the store. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. If you can, go to a bathroom, closet… crouch down as low as possible and cover your heads.”

Pidge and Shiro ended up hiding underneath a counter in the pharmacy section. Somewhere in the process she began to rant about how doorways weren’t exactly the safest place in a tornado event, and then she ranted about how this was obvious… Their shoulders were touching, and PIdge had her knees bend and close to her chest.

“Coran and I will be bringing you updates. Stay safe.”

“You got this my lads!” Pidge smiled at Coran’s voice. Pidge took out her phone and dialed Matt. He didn’t answer, and Pidge was left with the little rings to leave a voicemail.

“Hey Matt, tell mom that I love her. And I love you. There’s a tornado about to hit us, and I’m fine. Or you know… Anyway, just… take care. If I die you can have my peanut butter cookies.”

Shiro left a voicemail to his parents, though Pidge was unable to understand what he said because all of it was in really quick japanese. They both tucked in their phones back in their pockets and looked at each other.  

“So, a tornado?”

“Doesn’t happen every day, let me tell you that,” Pidge muttered back, “I’m scared.” 

Shiro nodded.

“Me too.” 

“I don’t want to die in a retail store.” Shiro chuckled. 

“Me neither.” 

“You suck at comforting others in face of death.” Shiro looked at her and smiled.

“I know.” 

Pidge placed her head on his shoulder.

“Thank you.” 

Shiro leaned closer.

“We are going to be fine.”

A loud rumbling sound came and Pidge jumped when she heard objects breaking. Pidge never imagined being in a tornado. It was dark, loud, and objects were shattering all around her. The wind was blowing, strong and harsh and Pidge could only repeat ‘fuck fuck fuck’ over and over again in her head. Her breathing was loud, or maybe it was Shiro’s. Their hearts were beating like drums against their chest, and Pidge was sure her hands were going to get sweaty because whenever she is nervous, she sweats. Pidge hated that she was thinking about this while the store was being destroyed.

Things were shattering and smashing around her. A plank of wood crashed beside her, and some of the shelves were falling. Pidge has never been more scared, (she also realized just how cheaply the pharmacy section has been built). She didn't realize Shiro had his arm around her and was gripping her tightly until a loud noise made her yelp and his fingers tighten the hold on her. 

She turned to look at Shiro, who despite looking very afraid of everything around them, was looking at her. His face looked a bit blurry, and Pidge took off her glasses and wiped the tears that were beginning to form. She put the glasses back on and saw his face better. Despite everything breaking and falling, and destroying around her, Shiro was in front of her… he was fine.

Pidge stared at him. Her heart skipped a beat, and then a thought came into her head. She wanted to kiss him. She was about to die and she was sure as hell not going to without kissing Shiro. Not without kissing the guy who placed glow in the dark stars for her, the guy who fired Lotor with her, the guy who did dares with her… Shiro.

Pidge was in love with him, and she almost laughed, because her timing was perfect wasn’t it? What better time to find out than in the middle of pure destruction. Pidge bit her lip and before she could tell him about how stupid her thoughts were being right now, Shiro leaned forward.

Pidge met him halfway. Their kiss was like standing in the eye of the hurricane, Pidge thought. His hands were in her cheeks, her hair in between his fingers. She held tightly to his shirt, afraid that maybe if she didn't, he would be gone. The kiss was desperate. Regardless of it, it was nice. 

When she pulled away, the tornado was satisfied with the destruction it caused and had died. Allura’s voice was shaking over the intercom, but she announced that while there were a lot of damages, they had made it safely through a tornado. The voices of Hunk and Lance and Keith were now loud enoiugh to reach them. One of the lights flicked back to life. Her phone began ringing…

and everything was fine. 

Pidge looked at Shiro, and found serenity…. she thought this was as cliche as it could be. 

A bit later, the families of the employees came, along with an ambulance, firemen, and police. No one was hurt, fortunately. 

She and Shiro were walking side by side, words hanging silently in the air. 

“Katie!” She looked up and found Matt running towards her. She gasped and ran to meet him. They both clashed and hugged, Matt squeezing her and gripping her tightly. 

“I got your voicemail, I’m so happy you are alive. I wouldn’t have been able to find the peanut butter cookies…” Pidge laughed, but halfway through her laughter she realized that both Matt and her were spilling tears. Matt pulled back and wiped away her tears. 

“Are you alright?” 

From behind Matt, she could see Shiro talking on the phone with someone. Their eyes met and they both smiled. Her heart fluttered.

She turned back to Matt and nodded.

“Everything is fine.” 

* * *

 

Pidge was seating in one of the tables in the breakroom with a tablet laying in front of her. She was here early, and Shiro was getting them some coffee from that nice cafe two blocks from here. She was staring intently and typing furiously. 

Her phone rang and she let out a sigh as she went ahead and answered it. 

“Hey sis!” 

“Hello Matt,” she mumbled, her fingers not slowing down.

“Are you working on your college thing?” Pidge let out a soft chuckle.

“Could you tell?”

“Only by the pauses between your words.” 

“I’m close to finishing this one class. Then its 3 more years filled with suffering and I’ll graduate.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.”

“And Shiro was very kind to offer to help pay for some of it while you study,” Pidge snorted.

“We get it. You just love Shiro.”

“In my defense, you picked a nice guy to be my brother in law!”

“We are not married Matt! Plus we did agree that after I graduate we would go explore some cool space programs.” 

Shiro came in to the break room with a tray of coffee and a bag of donuts. Pidge grinned and ignored whatever comment Matt was saying to her. Shiro approached her and planted a kiss on her lips before setting down the food. 

“Shiro is here, just so you know.” 

Shiro smiled and took the phone from Pidge.

“Hey Matt! Yes- you are welcome- she’s doing great in her college- no, I’m making sure she gets at least 5 hours of sleep- okay- yeah, I’ll take care. Our shift is starting soon. Bye.” 

Pidge chuckled as Shiro set the phone down and hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her head.

“Thanks for the food.”

“You are welcome, Katie.”

Lance and Keith arrived a minute later, and then Hunk, then the break room was filled with buzz, and chats, and a million conversations. She turned off her tablet, happy at the progress she was making in her education. Pidge stood up and grabbed the blue Altea vest that she had placed on her chair. She put it on and turned around to face Shiro, who had finished placing his name tag. 

“You ready?” 

“Same as always, right?”

Pidge seemed to think it over for a second before enveloping his hand on hers and smiling, her glasses glinting with something that reminded Shiro of constellations.

“Nah, I feel like finding a moment of beauty today.” 

(They both did. 

Their moment of beauty was each other, much to each other’s pleasure.)


End file.
